Fire brigade practiced super-GAU in Kremsmünster

Normally, a double early detection system and a self-extinguishing system secure the tank farms in Kremsmünsterin which RAG stores 60,000 cubic meters of crude oil each. But when flames flare up and a column of smoke rises, as was the fictitious requirement of a large-scale fire brigade exercise, everything has gone wrong. 285 firefighters sprayed a curtain of water to contain the fire. “We would extinguish it with special foam from the Schwechat refinery,” says fire inspector Georg Haider from the operations management. The fire-fighting operation could only begin one day after the alarm was raised because the foam and special equipment had to be purchased from a refinery first. As the exercise in Kremsmünster showed, the fire brigade is able to keep the fire under control over this period. Haider was also particularly satisfied with the function of the new digital radio, which 35 fire brigades from the region had used to coordinate. “We practiced an operation here which, in terms of the security of the system, is really extremely unlikely and can actually be ruled out,” says Haider.